London retailers are set to get a big boost from Spanish and Italian ‘shopcationers’ – people travelling to shop – this weekend, with the weak pound making the Capital the top destination for international shoppers over Europe’s Immaculate Conception public holiday, according to new data released today by lastminute.com group.
lastminute.com group’s recent booking data shows that as many as one in ten Spaniards (11%) and Italians (10%) who have booked to travel through the site will be London-bound this weekend.
Italy and Spain’s Immaculate Conception public holiday provides the perfect excuse for short-haul get-aways, with London bookings up 152% and 83% respectively from the weekend before. And the weaker pound has also helped London’s star rise, with the data showing that visits to London from Italians are up 12% this year, compared to last year.
The data reveals that most of these Italian and Spanish ‘shopcationers’ are due to fly over on Thursday 8th December this year, with the average stay lasting four days.
Of course not everyone that lives in Italy and Spain will be heading to Blighty, many will be ‘staycationing’ at home but this close to Christmas they’re still likely to be in a shopping mood. If you target Spanish and Italian customers with paid search or shopping comparison campaigns, this weekend might be an opportune moment to temporarily up your spend.
If you sell on marketplaces make sure that your offers are visible on the Spanish and Italian versions of eBay, Amazon and whichever other platforms you trade on and consider getting some email marketing out.
